7's GRAND PRIX SERIES : England won in Lyon

03/06/2012 - 31/08/2012

The FIRA-AER 7's European Championship started this week-end in Lyon (France) MATMUT Stadium where the TOP 14 Club LOU is hosted. This was the first round of the 2012 7's Grand Prix Series played by the 12 best European 7's teams. In total, 42 fixtures were programmed on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd June.
The last game shows England wining the title after a very interesting finale under a pouring rain.

Final : Rapidly left behind by the English team during the first half (Try by Andy Vilk ; 2min) Portugal reacted well by a magnificient acceleration of Hugo Valente (5 min). England Rose's managed request a hard blitz to score during the extra time, again by Andy Vilk (7-14).

Right from the start of the second half, England put its opponent under pressure but misses a try (11mn) by Tom Powell. Finally the following action shows a hole in the Portuguese defense immediately used by the experienced player, John Brake (12mn). The gap widened (7-21). After a solo move Nick Royle, confirmed the English domination with a try(16mn). In spite of a try at the last second (Hugo Leal), the Portuguese team lost vs the English team who didn't loose a single match in this tournament (26-14).

3rd Place: Spain logically won as it totally controlled the ball (17-12). Wales shows a young team which could progress.

Plate : The Scottish team, who was new to the 7's GPS, lost the finale for the 5th place (7-19) against Russia, who is very steady and consistent in its performances in the competition.

7th Place : France missed what couldn't be missed during the stoppage time and offered the spectators in the Matmut Stadium an intense extra time. With 6 players against 7, the French team managed to beat Georgia (12-17).

Bowl : The Netherlands, who played a great game, won against Italy (21-14) and achieved the Bowl.

11th Place : At the end of a difficult tournament for both teams, Germany, who integrated the 7's Grand Prix Series this year, won its first Grand Prix Series match against Ukraine (19-7) who is ranked last.